This has been an incredible year for Churchteams.  As we bring it to a close, our team would like to say thank you for your friendship, Merry Christmas, and Happy New Year!

What made it so incredible?  First, a living, breathing relationship with Jesus.  Second, kind, generous relationships with so many of you.  We have the best clients and friends in the world.  Third, a staff team committed to Christ, you, and each other.

Most of you are in the middle of Christmas preparations, but I know there are some of you already thinking about sending contribution statements in January.  Your concern about making sure everything is lined up right is what makes you so valuable to your church's leadership environment.  

I know this because there are members of our Churchteams staff that have the same gifts and calling.  I've seen them thrive in preparing services and resources to help our churches succeed with excellence on detailed processes like managing data and sending out contribution statements.

The advent season is upon us which, for church finances, means end of year giving is here, and sending statements season is a month away.  These are important parts of a church stewardship development plan.

Asking people to make a pledge or giving commitment is another, common practice for many churches going in to a new calendar or fiscal year.  There are several benefits to this practice:

From my experience, there are around 200 Bible verses worth memorizing for quick access in any situation throughout the day, every day.  One of these is a familiar verse that you likely already know - Philippians 4:6-7.  

"Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.  And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Jesus."

Do you ever feel overwhelmed with people to care for, groups to check on, or reports to review?  These are all important aspects of church staff and pastoral ministry. 

Six weeks ago we released our New Look, User Interface.   Thank you for all the kind responses and encouraging words about it.  We share that excitement.

Some of the upgrades below are on our classic pages, but upgrades on pages that have already been upgraded will ONLY be available in the new User Interface.  I.e., we won't be upgrading classic pages that have already been upgraded to the new UI.  This is a great reason for your pastors and staff to Opt-in to the New Look if they haven't already.

So far in this series we've looked at using registrations (forms) for Connection Cards, New Members Class, and Membership Commitment.   Most churches expect fully engaged members to be part of a small group where they belong and grow; and that they will serve somewhere using their talents and spiritual gifts.  That's why we included small group and serving questions in the membership form. 

In a perfect world members stay engaged in groups and serving, but in the real world they don't.  You need on-ramps for these members and for regular attenders who prefer to engage before they join.

The Connection Card is the way to capture information from guests and regular attenders who are interested in learning more about your church.  The Membership Class is the most important call to action in your communication to these people because it directs everyone to a single place to share their faith, identify their people, and begin to live out their purpose.

Here's one way that I've illustrated the importance of the New Members class.  It is the endpoint for the outreach and assimilation process, but it also marks the beginning of the equipping and engagement process.

The New look! launch went really great last week.  If you're a client and haven't made the switch, login and give it a try.  After a day or two of using it, you will join hundreds of others who see and feel the difference.

Last month I also started a series I'm calling the Top 12 ways churches use Registrations & Forms.  We did a deeper dive into the why and how of Connection Cards then.  This week let's talk about the New Members Class.

Connection cards are the best way to capture people's information.  Use this information to set up a series (or workflow) of emails, texts, and personal calls.  Besides getting to know them, the goal of this workflow is for people to register for a New Member's class.

One week from today, you'll have full access to the new look for Churchteams.  We recommend making the switch to the new beta version as soon as you log in.  We've worked hard on this and want you to see it.  If you do and want to switch back to the classic version, you'll have an option to do that any time. 

In preparation for that we thought a "before and after" video might be helpful for clients to get a better idea of the change.  And those of you who are not clients will enjoy seeing the difference a new look can make.  Check it out.

In the blog post a couple of weeks ago, I told you something big is coming next month.  It was really great to get the emails and calls with questions.  We love that interaction with you guys!

And today, we're ready to tell all of you what's coming to Churchteams on October 1st.  OUR NEW LOOK!! That's right, we are making updates to the user interface!

Coming October 1:  A New User Interface

The next few weeks are going to focus on the exciting announcement I leaked last week.  You are going to love what's coming.  But, today and after the upcoming release blogs we are going to share insights on the use of registrations and forms.  

After interviewing our support team, and looking at church websites that use registrations and forms well, I've come up with 12 of the top ways churches are using this amazing feature.  We're going to start today talking about Connection Cards.